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Marianas Trench
Marianas Trench at the 2011 MuchMusic Video Awards
Background information
Origin	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Genres	Punk, Pop Punk, Pop
Years active	2001–present
Labels	604 Records
Associated acts	Kate Voegele, Carly Rae Jepsen, Jessica Lee, Danny Fernandes, Girlicious, Emily Osment
Website	marianastrench.net
Members
Josh Ramsay Matt Webb Mike Ayley Ian Casselman

Marianas Trench is a Canadian pop rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia, formed in 2001, consisting of members Josh Ramsay, Matt Webb, Mike Ayley and Ian Casselman. They have released three full length albums, the most recent titled Ever After, released on November 21, 2011, along with 2009's Masterpiece Theatre and 2006's Fix Me.^[1] Their album Ever After was nominated for a Juno Award.

Early years and formation[link]

Lead singer, guitarist, producer, and lyricist Joshua Ramsay (Born June 11th, 1985) grew up in a musical family, with his mother being a vocal coach and his father owning a recording studio. Ramsay also shared the love of music and started a solo career at the age of 14. He later needed a supporting band and recruited high school friend, Matt Webb. Josh Ramsay attended high school at Magee Secondary School. Together they formed a band named Ramsay Fiction.^[2]

After disbanding Ramsay Fiction, Ramsay and Webb searched for new band mates. Ramsay found drummer Ian Casselman's wanted ad in the Georgia Straight. Through Casselman, they found Mike Ayley as bassist. Casselman and Ayley had previously played in a band together. The foursome chose the name Marianas Trench for their band. After much perseverance they were signed under 604 Records, owned by Chad Kroeger of Nickelback, and Jonathan Simkin of Simkin Management.

The discography of Marianas Trench, a Canadian pop rock group formed in Vancouver in 2001, consists of three studio albums, two extended plays, ten singles and ten music videos. The band recorded and released their EP in 2002 entitled Marianas Trench containing 7 tracks. On October 3, 2006, the band released their debut album "Fix Me". It contained the singles "Say Anything" as well as "Decided to Break It" and the hit single "Shake Tramp". The album was engineered and mixed by Mike Fraser. On February 24, 2009 they released their second studio album, Masterpiece Theatre. The album debuted at number four on the Canadian Albums Chart."Cross My Heart" became the band's second song to peak at #1 on both the Much Music Countdown and iTunes Canada Digital Download. "Cross My Heart" was nominated for four MMVAs in 2009 and was certified platinum in Canada.[1] The band's third studio album, Ever After, was released on November 21, 2011. Now is still success with "Fallout" and "Ever After" in 2010-2012

Career[link]

[edit] Marianas Trench EP (2000–2006)

The band recorded and released a self-titled EP in 2002. It contained songs which would later be added onto their debut album, Fix Me.

[edit] Fix Me (2006–2008)

In 2006, the band released their first full-length album entitled Fix Me. It included the singles "Say Anything", "Decided to Break It", and the hit single "Shake Tramp". The album was engineered and mixed by Mike Fraser. The band performed concerts nation-wide to promote the album, alongside Faber Drive.

[edit] Masterpiece Theatre (2009–2011)

Masterpiece Theatre, the band's follow-up album, was released as planned on February 24, 2009, as announced on the band's MySpace on January 22, 2009.

The title track "Masterpiece Theatre I" is the basis of the entire album. The sixth track is titled "Masterpiece Theatre II," which is an expansion of the first track. The twelfth and final track is titled "Masterpiece Theatre III," which quotes each previous song in the album in addition to incorporating rhythms, melodies, and concepts from the other tracks.

The album debuted at #4 on the Canadian Albums Chart. "Cross My Heart" became the band's second song to peak at #1 on both the Much Music Countdown and iTunes Canada Digital Download. "Cross My Heart" was nominated for four MMVAs in 2009 and was certified platinum in Canada.^[3] Recently after, Marianas Trench reached the #1 spot with the song All To Myself on Much Music's MOD. All To Myself also made Platinum certification in August 2009 in Canada.^[4]

The music video for "Beside You" premiered on MuchOnDemand on October 30, 2009.

On September 23, 2010, the band played their first ever American show, at the Bowery Electric in Manhattan.^[5]

On November 30, 2010, Directors Cut of Masterpiece Theatre was released, which included bonus acoustic tracks of the songs "Celebrity Status" and "Cross My Heart", an alternate version of the song "Good to You" (feat. Jessica Lee), as well as a never-before recorded cover of "And So It Goes" by Billy Joel.

The band played the final show of their Masterpiece Theatre tour on December 18, 2010 in their hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia at the Orpheum Theatre, during which their manager and the co-founder of 604 Records, Jonathan Simkin, revealed the album had gone platinum in Canada.

During this time, the band played five free shows at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and one in Surrey.^[6] Josh Ramsay also took part in a project called 'Young Artists For Haiti' to try and raise funds to support the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

[edit] Ever After (2011–present)

The band has completed the process of recording their third studio album. On June 19, 2011, Ramsay tweeted that the album will be titled Ever After. It was set to be released November 29, 2011, but was then changed to November 21.^[7] Ramsay has also stated that there will be no breaks in between tracks on the new record, as soon as one track ends the next will begin without pause, making the album one entire song.^[8]

The first single released from the album was "Haven't Had Enough". It was released to iTunes on July 19, 2011. "Haven't Had Enough" reached the #1 spot on iTunes Canada Top of the Charts and Pop Downloads and was named "Song of the Week" by The Tune. It also went platinum. The next single was Fallout. They made a video for Fallout which came out early February 2012 and went golden.Through a series of Studio Updates on their YouTube page, the band has released recordings of the gospel choir for their song "Stutter" as well as a track with some of the vocals of the band. Other songs on the track include "Ever After", "By Now", "Truth or Dare", "Desperate Measures", "Porcelain", "Fallout", "Toy Soldiers", "B Team", "So Soon", and "No Place Like Home".^[9] The music video for "Haven't Had Enough" was released on August 25, 2011.^[10]

The band released the cover of Ever After on their Facebook page ^[11] on October 17, 2011. It featured toys on a shelf and relates to the "toy land" themed story that goes along with "Ever After".

The second single from the album, "Fallout", was released on November 15, 2011. Filming for the song's music video began in December 2011. The video was released to the US on MTV on February 1,2012 and in Canada on MuchMusic a day later.

On April 26, 2012, Marianas Trench announced on their official website that "Desperate Measures" would serve as the third single from Ever After. The song has received Canadian radio airplay as of May 2012.^[12]

Tours and other ventures[link]

In 2009, the band went on the Beside You tour, beginning in St. Catharines, ON on October 4, 2009 and ending in Prarieland Park on December 31, 2009.

The band also participated in the University of British Columbia's Lipdub event on March 26, 2011. The video features approximately a thousand students and community members lip-syncing to the songs "Raise Your Glass," by Pink, and "Celebrity Status," by Marianas Trench. The video was released April 8, 2011.^[13]

Lead-guitarist of the band, Matt Webb, has pursued a side-project solo career. On April 19, 2011, Webb released his debut single from his solo album; entitled "Bad Girl". His 7-song debut extended play, "Coda and Jacket" was released on June 28, 2011.

Their first US show ever was 9/23/10 at the Bowery Electric in Manhatan.

Marianas Trench joined The Glamour Kills Tour 2011 with The Ready Set, Allstar Weekend, The Downtown Fiction, and We Are The In Crowd. The tour has finished.^[14]

The band has announced that they will be going on tour in the United States with Simple Plan, Forever the Sickest Kids and The Cab starting October 28, 2011. They have been touring with Simple Plan, All Time Low, and These Kids Wear Crowns in Canada since February 9, 2012.

The band began the United States Ever After Tour on April 6, 2012 in New York City. Due to illness, the rest of the tour was temporarily postponed.

The band will also be performing live as part of Journey's Backyard BBQ Tour in the summer of 2012.

Band members[link]

Current members

• Josh Ramsay - Lead vocals, Corn Shucking, rhythm guitar, piano (since 2001)
• Matt Webb - Lead guitar, backing vocals, CNC Overhead Router (since 2001)
• Mike Ayley - Bass guitar, 6am, backing vocals (since 2001)
• Ian Casselman - Drums and percussion,Competitive Ballroom Dancing, backing vocals (since 2001)

Media appearances[link]

Discography[link]

• 2006: Fix Me
• 2009: Masterpiece Theatre
• 2011: Ever After

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

• http://www.marianastrench.net/
• http://www.604records.com/604/main/artists/marianas-trench

External links[link]

• Marianas Trench Official website
• justalilhype! Vancouver HYPE Magazine in depth / abstract Interview